Email

Although a lot of non-business communication is by social media, email is still a powerful and useful technology.

Account Setup

If you have an email account already it is usually simple to set it up in a phone or tablet using the user name (often the email name) and the password.

iPad or iPhone

You need an Apple account to use these devices.
Normally this will set up an email as part of the set up processes.
It is possible to use your own email account instead. See below.

Android Tablet or Phone

You need a Google account to use these devices. This will include a GMail account.
You can use this account with the GMail app if this is convenient, but it is possible to use your own email account instead. See below.

Using your own existing email account

On your device there may be an existing email app or you may wish to use an app of your own choice.
To make that choice you will need to go to the App Store. There is information on this on the Apps page, click here.

For your selected app, just tap or click on it and when it starts it will ask for the email account details.
Mostly this will result in the app being able to access and download your latest emails to your device.

Types of email access

(this discussion is reasonably technical - get your tutor to explain the detail)

When you use your email on multiple devices (like a computer, a mobile phone, a tablet) you need to recognise that your email can be set up to work in two distinct ways.
The older style was that your email was held by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) until you 'asked' for it (by using an email app). When asked the ISP sent the email to you and deleted all copies of that email on their computers. Because it is rather like the postman delivering a letter to you and then you do what you want with the letter, it was called POP for Post Office Protocol.

With people wanting to access their email in different ways at different times of the day, it would not do to delete all the email copies with the ISP the first time you looked at them.
You might have used your mobile phone at home to sort them, then want to see them exactly as left by your phone sort in the office to send replies. If they were deleted when loaded to your phone there would be nothing to see on your office computer. A newer delivery method called IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) was developed and is the most common form in use today.

This means that you can read emails on your mobile and delete as they are read but your actions will be synchronised across all devices.